1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium recognition information recording method and a recording medium recognition information recording apparatus for recording recognition information inherent in recording media to a recording medium, and a recording disc having inherent recognition information recorded thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there are proposed optical discs of a variety of standards as a recording medium, and also proposed various disc recording and/or reproducing apparatuses for recording/reproducing information signals to/from such optical discs.
As such an optical disc, there is proposed a pit disc or replica disc which has a molded disc substrate on which pits are formed by a stamper and a reflective film adhered to the disc substrate. Since a large quantity of discs having the same information signals can be produced in a short time, such a pit disc is appropriate for recording music software, motion picture software, and computer programs. Thus, such a pit disc is coming into practical use widely as what is called a CD (Compact Disc: trade name) or what is called a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc-ROM: trade name).
Such a pit disc has recorded thereon information signals in the form of pit strings. And, after the reflective film is adhered to the disc substrate and the pit disc is completed as an optical disc, information signals cannot be additionally recorded to the optical disc.
Since information signals cannot be additionally recorded to a completed optical disc, such an optical disc cannot be a unique recording medium having identification information such as a serial number or ID number inherent in each of recording media as information signals recorded thereon.
Since optical discs having the identification information as information signals can be identified individually, such optical discs are effective in managing stocks and managing customers.
Such identification information may be recorded to an optical disc by injuring (peeling off, or transpiring) a part of a reflective film thereof. However, in case the identification information is recorded to an optical disc in such a manner, another reading-out apparatus for reading out the identification information, apart from an optical pick up used for reading out information signals recorded on the disc in the form of pit strings, is required. As a result, an optical disc reproducing apparatus becomes undesirably complicated in its configuration, while the reading-out operation becomes undesirably intricate.
On the other hand, such identification information may be recorded to an optical disc by forming a magnetic recording area or photomagnetic recording area and recording the identification information to these areas. However, such identification information must be prevented from being easily erased or rewritten by the user of the optical disc, and, in case the identification information is recorded to the magnetic recording area or photomagnetic recording area of an optical disc, the identification information cannot be prevented from being erased or rewritten.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks by providing a recording medium recognition information recording method and a recording medium recognition information recording apparatus for realizing a unique recording medium having identification information such as a serial number or ID number inherent in each of recording media as information signals recorded thereon, which is prevented from being easily erased or rewritten, without inducing the complexity of an optical disc reproducing apparatus in its configuration and the intricacy of the reading-out operation, and by providing a recording disc as such a unique recording medium.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording medium recognition information recording method for recording recognition information to a recording medium which has a recognition information recording area for recording the recognition information, at least the recognition information recording area being capable of additionally having information recorded thereto,
wherein, in recording digitized recognition information to the recognition information recording area, the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is modulated to a signal having a first frequency and the xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is modulated to a signal having a second frequency, and the signals corresponding to their respective frequencies are written to the recognition information recording area.
Otherwise, according to the recording medium recognition information recording method, in recording digitized recognition information to the recognition information recording area, either the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is modulated to a signal having a constant frequency and the other is modulated to a non-signal state, and the signals corresponding to the constant frequency and the non-signal state are written to the recognition information recording area.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording medium recognition information recording apparatus for recording recognition information to a recording medium loaded therein, the recording medium having a recognition information recording area for recording the recognition information, at least the recognition information recording area being capable of additionally having information recorded thereto, the recording medium recognition information recording apparatus comprising:
means for recording digitized recognition information to the recognition information recording area,
the recognition information recording means modulating the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d to a signal having a first frequency and modulating the xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d to a signal having a second frequency, and writing the signals corresponding to their respective frequencies to the recognition information recording area.
Otherwise, according to the recording medium recognition information recording apparatus, the recognition information recording means modulates either the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d to a signal having a constant frequency and modulates the other to a non-signal state, and writes the signals corresponding to the constant frequency and the non-signal state to the recognition information recording area.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording disc which has a recognition information recording area for recording recognition information, at least the recognition information recording area being capable of additionally having information recorded thereto, the recognition information recording area having digitized recognition information recorded therein,
wherein, of the digitized recognition information recorded in the recognition information recording area, the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is modulated to a signal having a first frequency and the xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is modulated to a signal having a second frequency, and the signals corresponding to their respective frequencies are written to the recognition information recording area.
Otherwise, according to the recording disc, of the digitized recognition information recorded in the recognition information recording area, either the xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is modulated to a signal having a constant frequency and the other is modulated to a non-signal state, and the signals corresponding to the constant frequency and the non-signal state are written to the recognition information recording area.
These objects and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.